The Arcadian Path by Jeff Taylor
Book Description
A two-part utopian science fiction story spanning the galaxy. It describes human societies during the age of Enlightened Expansion. A time when RingTech opened the door to expansion to other planets and the Arcadian Path enlightened society on (almost) all of the 222 United Worlds.
Part one follows the early use of RingTech to explore planet Arcadia, the first planet colonized by humans. Miles Finerty was the first person to breathe the air of an alien world, the first person to experience the mind-bending effects of planet Arcadia. It led him to create the Arcadian Path – the path to a happier more fulfilling life, and a better civilization for all.
Part two is a dramatic love story set four hundred years in the future when a button click of your RingTech PersPort can open a portal anywhere on the planet, or the other side of the galaxy if you have the right settings. Nava and Cromen, two lovers out for adventure, get pulled innocently into the most dangerous threat the United Worlds has ever known. Travel with them to Heaven and Hell and back again as they battle against the corrupt Orthodox Waru religious leaders. Nava and Cromen just wanted to be together and have a little adventure. Will they ever get home? Will the United Worlds survive?
In this world where transportation across city, planet, or galaxy is only a button click away, how would society change? How would human nature corrupt such a tool? You could open a portal and dump sewage or molten magma directly into the Presidents office. You could look into a neighbor’s bedroom or empty a bank vault. Would anyone be safe?
Authors Introduction
I like science fiction and I’m tired of gloomy dystopian SciFi. This much is true.
I was struggling to write a different novel in the early morning hours of March 17, 2014. In tired frustration, I lay my head on the desk and was taken by sleep. A soft knocking on the front door startled me awake.
“Hello,” I said, opening the door a crack and looking out at a young woman in strange clothes standing on my porch. “Can I help you?” I asked sleepily.
“I have something for you,” she replied.
“Who are you? What do you have for me?” I asked, feeling very suspicious.
“I am from the year 444 EE,” she replied.
“What are you saying?” I asked, thinking she was crazy or it was some kind of scam. I almost closed the door, but something about her strange accent and sincere manner made me hesitate.
“I have information that will unite humanity,” she replied. “You have been chosen to bring this information to planet Earth.”
My laugh startled her. “Please,” she stated urgently, holding out a USB drive as I was closing the door, “take it. It is what you need.”
“Leave it on the step,” I replied, feeling sure it was a scam of some kind.
“Please read it,” she firmly stated, looking back at me while placing the USB drive on the top step and then walking away.
She stopped halfway to the sidewalk and turned to face me. Her fingers touch a silver belt buckle and a circular door opened beside her. A white sandy beach with turquoise water was visible on the other side. The young woman looked at me and raise her right hand in farewell before stepping through the door to some other place or time. The door closed. She was gone. That is what I saw with my sleepy 2 am eyes.
“It’s a dream?” I thought to myself as I looked out at the USB drive still there on the step. I picked it up but was afraid to put it into my computer. “Just some stupid trick,” I said to myself as I threw the USB drive into a desk drawer, “some fancy scam. What else could it be?”
The USB drive sat there in my desk, ignored and forgotten, until the COVID 19 pandemic began in 2020 when I had time to clean out my desk. I put the USB drive into an old computer because I was suspicious that it might have a virus and I didn’t want to damage my new computer. The USB drive contained only one text file, but what it revealed about the future of the human race is enlightening.
Science and technology will solve Earth’s environmental problems.
The human race will become unified in sharing and protecting the Earth.
Humans will learn to appreciate our front-row seat on the universe.
Man will reach the stars.
The future is coming.
Available at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GPXWL3J